The city department that handles bridges, potholes and other street fixes is still waiting for a chief

Bicyclists use the open portion of the Navy Pier flyover Sept. 2, 2019, near Lake Shore Drive and Grand Avenue in Chicago. Among the city Transportation Department’s projects is the oft-delayed completion of the flyover. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The city is still looking for someone to run its Department of Transportation, more than five months after Lori Lightfoot took office as Chicago mayor.

The Lightfoot administration is doing a nationwide search to find candidates with transportation expertise, according to Lightfoot spokeswoman Hali Levandoski. In the meantime, acting Commissioner Thomas Carney is filling the role and has the administration’s “full confidence,” Levandoski said.

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Transportation experts are starting to wonder about the delay in picking the head of a department responsible for pothole repair, bridge reconstruction, bike lanes and road design.

“A lot of us are surprised that it is taking so long, given all the urgency surrounding transportation planning at the moment,” said DePaul University transportation expert Joseph Schwieterman. The city faces “pressing issues," like reducing injuries to pedestrians downtown, growing traffic congestion, deciding what to do about electric scooters and preparing for winter, he said.

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A building boom is underway in the Loop and nearby neighborhoods. Among the department’s projects is the oft-delayed completion of the Navy Pier Flyover, a pedestrian and bike bridge over the Chicago River that was started in 2014 and is expected to open in late spring of next year.

Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who emphasized transportation issues, picked former Washington, D.C., transportation director Gabe Klein as his head of transportation less than a month after taking office.

The sometimes controversial Klein started the Divvy bike-share program and oversaw construction of the city’s first protected bike lanes. Some aldermen complained that Klein wasn’t attentive enough to details like potholes.

Klein left in late 2013, and Emanuel tapped attorney and former Chicago Transit Authority planning chief Rebekah Scheinfeld. Scheinfeld, an attorney who had a drama-free tenure and was well regarded by transportation advocates, resigned shortly before Lightfoot took office. The seat has remained empty since.

Scheinfeld told Streetsblog, a transportation news website, that Lightfoot’s administration had asked her to stay, but she wanted to spend more time with family. Scheinfeld earned $169,500 in 2017 as head of the Transportation Department, according to the Better Government Association database.

Jacky Grimshaw, vice president of government affairs with the Center for Neighborhood Technology, said she doesn’t understand why the spot has remained unfilled, when there’s “so much good talent here in Chicago, both on the engineering side and the generalist side.”

Grimshaw said a bureaucracy like CDOT needs a leader to set policy and streamline processes.

Several city departments are being led by holdovers from the Emanuel administration, including aviation, led by Commissioner Jamie Rhee, and the Chicago Transit Authority, led by President Dorval Carter.

Lightfoot reached out to Detroit for her new head of planning and development, Maurice Cox, who was head of planning in Detroit. The Active Transportation Alliance expressed a hope that the next transportation commissioner will share Cox’s perspective on making neighborhoods better for people walking, biking or taking transit.

“Maurice Cox’s experience advancing walkability and neighborhood development initiatives in Detroit makes him a great fit for Chicago," said spokesman Kyle Whitehead. "We are eager for Mayor Lightfoot to appoint a transportation commissioner who shares his vision for a city where it’s safer and easier for everyone to get around without a car.”

Michael Sturino, president of the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association, said he had no concern about the time Lightfoot is taking to pick a transportation commissioner.

“The team there now is committed to the Mayor’s vision of innovation, inclusion and efficiency,” Sturino said in an email.

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The Department of Public Health also has an interim head, Allison Arwady. Aldermen on the City Council Health and Human Services Committee recently blocked confirmation of Arwady as health commissioner, after Arwady declined to endorse reopening mental health clinics closed under Emanuel.